Thursday, March 29, 2012

Korea ~ Day 2 Mt Sorak& Daepohang Fish Market

After visiting the Nami Island, we had our lunch at the Chuncheon Myeongdong Street (another filming site of the Winter Sonata). The guide brought us to have the hot plate chicken which are well known in that area. Majority of the shops there were selling this dish.

Hot plate chicken and side dishes

Once we arrived at the restaurant, food were already prepared. We could actually smell the nice aroma when walking towards the shop. As Korean culture, every meal they eat comes with side dishes and the main side dish will be the Kimchi. My cousins love it and wallop the whole plate in a jiff. However, my parents and me just does not appreciate the taste of Kimchi. We did tried, but unable to accept the taste.

Hot plate chicken with cabbages, rice cake and sweet potatoes

The hot plate consists of chicken meat, sweet potatoes, cabbages and Korean rice cake. With their special sauce, stir fried everything on the hot plate until cooked. The taste was good. One thing about Korean food, it was neither too salty nor sweet.

MT SORAK NATIONAL PARK

Snow ball time

After lunch, we proceeded to the Mt Sorak. The journey took us around 2 hours drive. Along the way up to the mountain, our guide saw a large pile of snow by the road side. He was kind enough to get the bus driver to stop for us to take pictures.

One part of the Mt Sorak

From the bus, we could see blocks of mountains covered with white snow. They were beautiful. Before reaching the mountain, we stopped by at the Teddy Bear Farm.

YX with a white bunny. But where is the bear ?

Snow !

The open area of this place were covered with snow. We were more interested in the snow than the displayed bears and bunnies !

Ais Kacang, anyone ?

YX enjoyed himself and trying to make a snow ball.

Giant bear entrance

After having enough of fun with the snow, we proceeded to the inside to see a variety of teddy bear being displayed. If XJ were here, am sure she will love this place because she loves teddy bears.

I'm the number 4 bunny.

Spending around 20 minutes at the Teddy Bear Farm, we continued our journey to the mountain.

more snow

This place have even more and thicker snow on the ground.

Throwing snow balls

YX having loads of fun throwing snow balls. He played until both his gloves were wet.

Buddha statue

Further inside, we came to this huge Buddha statue. It reminds me of Genting Highlands. haha .

Nice view of the mountain

Growing up seeing only green mountains, this is the first time we saw white mountain in real life. One of my cousin joked by saying our photos were just as nice as a postcard.

DAEPOHANG FISH MARKET

Seafood steamboat

As it was time for dinner, we left the mountain to the Daepohang Fish Market. We had seafood steamboat served with steamed white rice. Each 4 of us shared a pot of steamboat.

Side dishes

As usual, we were given some side dishes which we did not touched except for the fried fish (dad loves it) and toasted seaweed (YX's favourite).

Fried prawns and squids

After dinner, we went to visit the wet market. It was still opened during night time but it was not crowded.

Stuffed squids

Along the way, we saw these street food but did not give them a try, so I can't tell you whether it was nice or not. The guide told us the squid was stuffed with glutinous rice.

Korean crabs

And these are the crabs we had during the dinner earlier. They were meatless. I think our Malaysian crab are better. haha

Variety of live seafood

We spent a night at the Sorak Kumho Hotel before shifting again the next day. During this trip, besides than experiencing different type of food, we even had the chance to experience the local's culture. This hotel does not provide bed but instead, they provide mattresses. In ever hotel we stayed, all the floor were heated. It was very comfortable to sleep this way.

The mattress and pillows kept in the cabinet

Laid them straight

Since the floor were heated, I even washed our socks before going to bed. I placed them on the floor and they were dried and warm the next day.